Aaliyah Miller of McKinney Boyd, left, and DeSoto's Camry Grigsby, right, compete in the girls 800m race during the UIL Class 5A state track finals on Sat., May 10, 2014 at Mike A. Myers Stadium on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin. Ashley Landis/Special Contributor ORG XMIT: 20019226A

AUSTIN — Two years ago, DeSoto pulled
off the rare sweep of the Class 5A boys and girls titles at the UIL state track
and field meet. Before Saturday’s competition began, it looked like the Eagles
could come close to doing it again.

Instead, they didn’t get either title at Mike A. Myers Stadium. The girls
team, which had won three straight titles, finished third. The boys team, trying
to win its second title in three years, also finished third.

“We had some shining stars,” girls coach June Villers said. “We just didn’t
quite do what we needed to do.”

Junior Chevis Armstead won the 110-meter hurdles in 13.82 seconds, edging
Allen’s Grant Finney (13.96). DeSoto’s boys 4x200 relay team of Trevin Chambers,
Nick Orr, LaDarren Brown and London Dunn blew away the field with a time of
1:24.56.

The girls winners were sophomore Alexis Duncan in the 100 hurdles (13.39) and
sophomore Kira White (11.66) in the 200. White won in a photo finish against
Judson’s Talajah Murrell, who also finished in 11.66. White won by three
thousandths of a second.

“I saw the girl next to me,” White said, “and I knew it was going to be
decided by who ran through the end and the lean.”

The victories by Duncan and White, along with second-place finishes by Camry
Grigsby (800 meters) and Latyria Jefferson (high jump), gave DeSoto 36 points.
That put the Eagles in good position to match Houston Westbury’s four
consecutive 5A titles from 1997 to 2000.

But although DeSoto qualified teams in all three relays, which have twice the
point value of individual events, the girls finished eighth in the 4x100 and
4x200 and sixth in the 4x400. That gave the Eagles a total of two points in the
events. Judson, by comparison, finished third in two relays and won another,
giving it 44 points.

It’s hard to win without those relay points.

It’s also hard to win when one of your relays drops the baton in the area
meet. That’s what happened to the DeSoto boys 4x100 team, which was one of the
state’s best but didn’t get to show it Saturday.

“Without that 4x100 team, we came up a little bit short,” boys coach Donald
Miller said. “But I was really proud of the guys. The ones that were here really
competed. We just didn’t have enough.”

DeSoto will probably have more next year, considering its boys and girls
teams are loaded with underclassmen.

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